lecture 3 - cornell university
TRANSCRIPT
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Social Mechanics
Lecture 3
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About Today’s Lecture
� Will assume you saw Koster’s talk � Will use his design terminology � But not his Twitter numbers
� But will go deeper than that � What the heck was he talking about? � How is it present in existing games? � How do I add it to my game?
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Social Mechanics 2
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REVIEW: Aspects of a Game
� Players: How do humans affect the game?
� Goals: What is the player trying to do?
� Rules: How can the player achieve the goal?
� Challenges: What obstacles block the goal?
Social Mechanics 3
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Introducing Social Elements
� Design game to encourage social interaction � Multiplayer => Social � But multiplayer not required
� Goals and Social Activity � Goals have multiplayer aspect
� Challenges and Social Activity � Multiple players adjust the difficulty � Other players can help or hinder
Social Mechanics 4
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Trivial: “Single Player” Social
� Parallel symmetric games from Koster’s talk � Status
� Leaderboards
� Races
� Tournaments
� Social aspects are “external” to game � Or are they really?
(my high score) (everyone’s high score) (speed puzzles)
(brackets of races)
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Single-Player Social Design � Very easy to do with “scoring”
� Numerical basis for status, comparison
� Most social games do this
� Scoring can be multi-dimensional � Different categories (speed, difficulty, etc…)
� Can have leaderboard for each category
� Status messages are non-numerical alternative � Update my friends on where I am in game
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Status Messages: Sword and Sworcery
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Is this Good Design?
� If this is social, all games are social � But that was Raph’s point
� Bad: can ignore social elements � Don’t care about high score
� Goal: design social game mechanics � Require friends to play the game
� Or at least create strong incentives
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Opposition: Koster’s Basics
� 1 vs 1 � Tug of War
� Flower Picking
� Dot Eating
� Secrets
� 1 vs 1 vs … vs 1 � Last Man Standing
� Bidding
� Gamemaster Pattern
(combat)
(resource race)
(resource fight)
(deception)
(big fight)
(spectators) (????)
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Key Design Observation
� In these designs, number of players is fixed � Traditional multiplayer set-up � Not really using a “social network”
� Existing games use asynchronous turn-based gameplay � Old: Chess, Avalon Hill Wargames � New: Words with Friends, WarStorm
� Social Network a variation of play-by-mail � 1990s: Play-by-email � Now: Play-by-Twitter, Play-by-Facebook � Design is largely unchanged
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Problem: Downtime
� Next move is blocked on player/gamemaster � (Pre-internet) real life communication lag � (Post-internet) player away from keyboard � How long can player take on his/her turn?
� “Swapping in” a big problem � Where are we in the game? � May have been days since last turn
� These problems limit you to core gamers
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Problem: Downtime
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Solution: Keep it Simple
� Classic board game design � Moves are relatively short � State determined at a glance
� Examples: � Chess: Move one piece; small 8x8 board � Word with Friends: Scrabble variant � Collectable Card Game: Cards in play � But not memoryless…
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Complex Games Need a Gamemaster
� Needed if actions non-deterministic � How do we know outcome? � Cannot see your die roll
� Computer serves as gamemaster
� Allows for complex gameplay � Turn sets up action for gamemaster � But now turns take longer to play!
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Example: Warstorm
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Cooperation (Fixed Size)
� Friends help player overcome challenges � Roles � Mentoring � Gifts � Reciprocity
� Why wasn't booing given a number? � Is it the same as gifts? � Is it the same as mentoring?
(medic!) (free XP) (free magic items) (item exchange)
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Example: Dragon Age Legends
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� Do not actually fight battles with your friends � Would require coordination after each move � This would make it a turn-based RPG � Requires constant online with lot of downtime
� In DA: Legends, Friends are resource � Friends lend characters to your for the battle � You control entire party on your own � Social coordination is after each battle
But Plays Like Single Player
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Social Games Use Resource Sharing
� Zynga games have money as resource � “Hire” your friends to do tasks � This transfers your money to them
� Works with game specific resources � Farmville: Seeds, energy � Vampire: Blood � DA Legends: Party members
Numeric Resources
Object
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And This Leads to Monetization…
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Opposition & Cooperation
� Opponents, Friends may change dynamically � Ganging Up
� Deception/Bluffing
� Prisoner’s Dilemma
� Fundamental in 3+ person games � Recall: Kingmaking, Politics
� Very difficult to balance
(king of the hill)
(turncoat) (lesser two evils)
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Is This Truly “Social”?
� Opposition leads to turn-based play � Mechanics derived from board games
� Again, a form of play-by-mail
� Designed for (relatively) small groups � Opposition is still very “personal”
� Adding players unbalances resource sharing
� Too many players, too long a game
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Leveraging the Social Network
� Support open-ended cooperation/opposition � Want to encourage large personal network � But also allow small-scale (or even solo) play
� Allow time for communication � Friends not immediately available � Do not “block” on requests � But allow for quick mobilization
� Provide rich communication channels � “Join our secret group to plot John’s demise”
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Unbounded Resource Sharing
� Example: Mafia Wars � My empire versus your empire
� Opposition is no longer “personal”
� Again, very hard to balance � Large social networks crucial for survival
� Mobilization is also critical
� Small networks need much work/money
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Diminishing Returns
� Friends can only help a limited number of times � Friends run out of resources to give � DA Legends: User per day limit on friends
� Implemented with an “energy” resource � Social activities require energy use � Have to wait for friends to recharge � Energy replenishes over time (or with money)
� Encourages spreading out friends over time � Going “all in” makes you vulnerable
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Guilds and Large Economies
� A lot of rich gameplay from the MMOs � Guild vs. Guild � Trade/Contracts � Elections/Politics � Arbitrage
� But not really prevalent in social games. � Why not? � Can we create it?
(privacy policies?)
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Why do Guilds Form?
Exclusivity Supply Chains
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Why do Guilds Form?
Exclusivity Supply Chains
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Guild Specialization
� Supply chains lead to specialization � Each person has different role in chain � Guild structure balances member roles
� Very different from social game design � Friends are often interchangeable � Actions limited by network size, not organization
� Is this too hardcore for social gamers?
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Summary
� Social gaming is still not well understood � Many games are play-by-mail variants � Downtime prevents a lot of complex gameplay
� Want mechanics that leverage network � Support open-ended cooperation/opposition � Provide rich, but asynchronous communication
� Want depth of MMO without complexity � MMO economies are fantastic for gaming � Want “guilds” with deep specialization
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